Why Atheists can't be Republicans

That atheists are secularists is one reason why atheists can’t be member of today’s Republican Party.

The Grand Old Party (GOP) is ... a theocratic sponsor,...

Atheists can’t be Republicans because the economic and social policies of the Republican Party have been proven abjectly false and dangerous. Much in the same way religion is false and dangerous. In other words, atheists who cling onto modern U.S. conservative ideology are hanging onto ideas that have either been proven mythical at worse or remain unproven at best. If atheists applied the same litmus test to their political ideology as they do to theology, then clearly an atheist cannot be a Republican.

Atheists are the fastest growing minority in the country. We now have the critical mass to shape elections and policy. Were atheists able to establish a monolithic political demographic, one that is based on proven economic and social policies, then our potential political power would translate into saving this country from the clutches of the American Taliban and Wall Street.

On the other hand, the author also says,

... I have come in contact with as many idiot atheists as I have with idiot Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

Yes I have. I make library catalog records for a living and then my company spends money on me and then I get whatever is left after the government steels what you are happy they steel, and then somehow I still don't need to steel from people in the form of food stamps or whatever other government assistance there is.

Michael, If you want manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and eliminate minimum wage, and reduce or eliminate taxes on manufacturers, and eliminate health insurance laws, and have as few regulations as possible, you will have a country of exploited workers who do not share in the profits from producing the goods and services that U.S. consumers want.

You will have a working class who is unable to afford the products they make.

Hiring children because they are cheaper or because they are small would result in Child Labor conditions before 1916 and child coal miners.

Because there are more workers than there are jobs, wages are forced down. Legislation is necessary to insure a living wage for workers, especially when workers produce great profits for owners. With production jobs going to parts of the world with excess workers, U.S. owners can hire workers for far less money than U.S. workers receive, with fewer safety regulations, fewer benefits, and fewer health regulations on the products.

If profits are taxed at a lower rate than payroll taxes, owners of profitable businesses do not share in the taxes necessary to maintain the national defense, investments in infrastructure, on education, in addition to interest on the debt. Payroll taxes as a whole are regressive: they collect a higher percentage of total earnings from lower-income workers than higher-income ones.

The sources of federal tax revenue are individual income taxes, payroll taxes, and corporate income taxes; other sources of tax revenue include excise taxes, the estate tax, and other taxes and fees. Wealth is much easier to hide than wages, and capital is taxed at a lower rate than labor.

Of course, profit and money are not evil! What is evil, unjust, unfair, immoral, corrupt, and destructive is the role of money in buying access to political power. A republic requires representatives who represent the people. What USA has become is a republic with representatives who represent money interests.

Correct Joan.
As for stealing, people who listen to news, as opposed to Faux news, know that corporations steal more than the poor could ever concieve of. Corporate welfare is stealing billions. The poor couldn't begin to steal at the rate of the rich.

Joan, thanks for the pics. The second one stirs a question: do you think it best if taxes are hidden?

I ask, not because I have any sympathy for conservative positions, but because taxes on business income are added to the retail prices of the goods and services these businesses, including corporations, sell.

I agree with Michael Moore that corporations are sociopaths and the law should treat them as such, but customers of businesses big and small, incorporated or not, pay these taxes at the cash register. Few know they are doing so.

Taxes are necessary; I don't want them hidden from the people who pay them.

Freethinker, thanks for your speedy post, BUT I DID NOT SAY BUSINESSES SHOULD NOT BE TAXED. I SAID THEIR INCOME SHOULD NOT BE TAXED. Do tax them for government services, such as fire and police protection.

Am I reading your post as you intend. that taxes should be hidden from we who pay them and we should just suck it up and pay them?

But businesses should not be taxed and individuals should not be taxed either. And most of the government does not need to exist. I would eliminate the department of energy, the environmental protection agency, department of education, NASA, the federal bureau of land management, the department of housing and urban affairs, SNAP (food stamps), WIC, home energy assistance, NOAA, and is am sure there are other ways the government could cut expenses and quit stealing from us. If people want to start private organizations which would provide charity and make money from donations or fundraising without just steeling from us, that would be fine.

What we need is a massive jobs program such as Roosevelt put into place before the WW II began, and Eisenhower's highways program after the war. They put many unemployed workers to work after the Great Depression and after the austerity experienced during the war.

Borrowing or printing money for massive projects to put people to work meant workers would have wages to spend on goods and services. It included educating people for new and more complex jobs, who could find better jobs than flipping hamburgers or washing dishes.

We very badly need to get off fossil fuels and convert to renewable and sustainable energy sources. Many jobs could be created, many small businesses could be started and they are the real job-creators. More people working for wages, more $ circulating and everyone benefits.